So here we are over four years later. The three of us, myself, Malte and Colin, have weathered pretty much every obstacle possible when starting a business. Like having to focus on full-time jobs elsewhere while working on Intercollector in our spare time. I (Allison) am the only person who is full-time now, but I worked for another company up until 2018. We have also dealt with personal struggles and the background of Covid-19. With all this, we have managed to get through it while bootstrapping the company and all that entails. 

Due to Covid-19 our business environment has moved at warp speed and now there are many options for online auctions. The big auctioneers all have timed bidding options now where there is no viewing. Timed Bidding is just another term for online only auctions. The big aggregator platforms such as Barnebys, The Saleroom and Invaluable offer a timed bidding option and many small to medium sized traditional auctioneers have utilised this as live auctions have become problematic in this new climate. It is funny that traditional auctioneers weren’t so keen on this before Covid-19 but needs must, as they say. 

So, one could be forgiven for thinking that Intercollector might get lost in the quagmire.  That the bigger players have now seen the need for curated online auctions, and this leaves Intercollector out in the cold.  Hmmm well although we are keenly aware of the shift in our business and how it affects us, we are still very much in the game.  Curated online auctions are here to stay and although the need for “no human contact” selling is a priority now, this won’t always be so in the auction market. Traditional auctioneers will be glad to get back to their original business models. This will clear the path for Intercollector to become the marketplace of choice for mid-range antiques and collectibles. We are not directly competing with anyone as our market is relatively untapped, so we just have to ride out the storm. 
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We understand that although we are newish and small, we have advantages that other companies don’t, and we feel successful even without a paycheck.  Success to us comes with every happy customer who buys and sells with us….and we have many.